Railroad car spotting and wheel locking apparatus

ABSTRACT

There is provided a railroad car spotting and wheel locking assembly for coaction between a pair of railroad car wheels and the rail on which the wheels are supported. The apparatus is characterized by a housing and a pair of spaced oppositely acting wheel engaging chock arms pivotally mounted in the housing for movement in a horizontal plane. Means such as hydraulic means are provided for moving the chock arms into and out of wheel locking engagement. An advantage of the present apparatus is that it can be used to effect limited movement of the railroad car or a train of railroad cars to more accurately spot the car and thus cars attached thereto for car unloading operation.

United States Patent Cheek et RAILROAD CAR SPOTTING AND WHEEL LOCKING APPARATUS [75] Inventors: Edward E. Cheek, Cleveland Heights; Raymond H. Sabin, Willoughby, both of Ohio [73] Assignee: McDowell-Wellman Engineering Company, Cleveland, Ohio [22] Filed: Mar. 20, 1972 [2]] Appl. No.: 235,950

[52] U.S. Cl 104/162, 105/26.l, 105/90 A, 105/462, 254/35 [51] Int. Cl B61b 13/12, B6lb 15/00, B61j 3/12 [58] Field of Search..... 104/249, 176, 254, 26, 162, 104/257; 188/32, 36, 37; 105/90 A; 254/35 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,994,530 3/1935 Miehe 105/90 A 2,923,255 2/1960 Schweinberg 104/257 3,305,050 2/1967 Newberry 188/32 2,621,892 12/1952 Kiliness 105/90 A FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 940,533 3/1956 Germany 254/35 Primary Examiner-Robert G. Sheridan Assistant Examiner-Richard A. Bertsch Attorney, Agent, or Firm-McNenny, Farrington, Peame & Gordon [5 7 ABSTRACT There is provided a railroad car spotting and wheel locking assembly for coaction between a pair of railroad car wheels and the rail on which the wheels are supported. The apparatus is characterized by a housing and a pair of spaced oppositely acting wheel engaging chock arms pivotally mounted in the housing for movement in a horizontal plane. Means such as hydraulic means are provided for moving the chock arms into and out of wheel locking engagement. An advantage of the present apparatus is that it can be used to effect limited movement of the railroad car or a train of railroad cars to more accurately spot the car and thus cars attached thereto for car unloading operation.

8 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures RAILROAD CAR SPOTTING AND WHEEL LOCKING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART The present invention is particularly useful in conjunction with railroad car unloading apparatus and especially rotary railroad car dumpers. Among the current developments in the large scale handling of bulk materials, e.g. coal, iron ore, or the like, has been the innovation of the unit train. In a unit train, the cars are of substantially uniform make and dimension, and during the loading, transporting, and unloading operations, being fitted with rotary couplers, remain continuously in a coupled condition. Rotary couplers permit, without uncoupling the cars from the train, rotation of one or more railroad cars about the draft gear axis. In the handling of such unit trains, it is common practice to use car positioning apparatus such as that described in US. Pat. No. 3,212,454 dated Oct. 19, 1965, together with the rotary railroad car dumper. Train positions may be located two or three car lengths away from the dumper cradle and, because of the slack and the dynamic spring action of the draft gears on the railroad cars, some degree of misspotting frequently occurs, the extent of which may reach up to about inches. The accuracy of spotting desired is considerably less than 10 inches, and accordingly means for positively locating the train of cars and holding the cars in position prior to the dumping operation is a desired objective.

The present invention solves this problem in a unique manner. While various chock devices have been used heretofore for the purpose of holding railroad cars in position on rails and have involved the interposition of chock members in the nip between the railroad car wheels and the rails, the prior art has not contemplated a device so structured as to enable slight movement of the cars forward or backward within a 10-inch limit, for example, as well as providing means for locking the wheels in a predetermined position. Thus, the range over which devices in accordance herewith operate is desirably about inches.

BRIEF STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION Briefly stated, therefore, the present invention is in a train spotting and wheel locking assembly for selective locking and spotting coaction between a pair of railroad car wheels and the rail on which said wheels are supported. The assembly comprises in combination a housing, a pair of spaced oppositely acting wheel engaging chock arms pivotally mounted in the housing for movement in a horizontal plane, and means for moving the chock arms into and out of wheel locking engagement. In a preferred embodiment, the means for moving the chock arms include an extensible arm coacting between the housing and the chock arms, respectively, in a horizontal plane. The extensible arm is desirably a hydraulically actuated arm capable of developing sufficient power to move the train along the rails a distance up to about 10 inches in either direction. In the normal installation, a pair of such assemblies working together on opposite sides of the trackway and engaging each of the four wheels on one railroad car truck is employed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention may be better understood by having reference to the annexed drawings showing a preferred embodiment thereof and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top view of a train spotting and wheel locking assembly in accordance herewith with the cover of the housing removed to better show the internal parts, and shown in position adjacent a trackway leading to a severed trackway portion located within a rotary railroad car dumper cradle.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 as it appears in the plane indicated by the line 2--2 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a cross -sectional view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 as it appears in the plane indicated by the line 33 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the engagement of one of the chock arms with a standard railroad car wheel as it appears in the plane indicated by the line 44 in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring now more particularly to FIG. 1, there is shown a track portion consisting of a first rail 10 and a second rail 12 proceeding toward a rotary railroad car dumper platen 14 partially shown and supporting a severed track section consisting of rail portions 16 and 18. Railroad car wheels 20, 22, 24, and 26 are shown in position on rails 10 and 12, respectively, these wheels being located as they would be when mounted on standard railroad car trucks. The trucks are not shown. The platen l4 and the severed rail sections 16 and 18 are conveniently carried in a rotary railroad car dumper cradle, also not shown but of known structure. (See US. Pat. No. 3,214,034 dated Oct. 26, 1965.) The train spotting and wheel locking assembly is located before the severed track portion carried by the platen l4 and assists in more accurately locating cars in close proximity to the rotary railroad car dumper.

Disposed adjacent to rail 10 is a train spotting and wheel locking assembly in accordance with the present invention. This assembly includes a housing 28 suitably mounted adjacent the rail 10 as best shown in FIG. 2 on a concrete foundation 30. In the preferred embodiment, there is provided a mounting plate 32 which is suitably welded at its extremities to shear bars 34 and 36 and to transversely extending channels 38 and 40. The mounting plate 32, the associated channel members 38 and 40, and the shear bars 34 and 36 are desirably embedded in the concrete base 30 at the time of pouring thereof. Suitable anchor bolts such as bolts 42 and 44 are provided. The housing 28 is provided with a base plate 44 which is fitted with suitable anchor boltreceiving holes, e.g. receiving hole 46. Abutment members 48 and 50 located at either end of the mounting plate 32 and welded in place after field adjustment serve to anchor and stabilize the housing 28 against longitudinal movement. The housing 28 also includes upstanding end walls 52 and 54 and side plates 56 and 58 in a box-like arrangement on the base plate 44. As shown in FIG. 2, there is provided a cover plate 60, this element being removed in FIG. 1 to better show the disposition of the parts within the housing.

Pivot pins 62 and 64 are mounted in the housing 28 in suitable pin retaining blocks such as lower block 66 welded to the base plate 44 and upper mounting block 68 welded to pin block supporting plate 70 and separated by a spacer bar 76 (FIG. 1). Rotatably mounted on pins 62 and 64 are wheel-engaging chock arms 72 and 74. As best shown in FIG. 3, chock arm 74 is provided with a bushing 78, preferably formed of hardened steel and pressed into chock arm 74 and through which pin 64 is passed to permit rotation of the arm thereabout. The outer or distal extremity of the chock arm 74 is provided with a wheel-engaging chock body 80 having one surface 82 (FIG. 4) thereof configured to conform to the radius of the railroad car wheel 22. Thus, interposition of the chock body 80 in the nip 84 between the wheel 22 and the rail serves to arrest rolling motion of the wheel 22 and lock the wheel into position on the rail. The proximal extremity 86 of the arm 74 is also provided with a bushing 88 and a bore adapted to receive clevis pin 90 which pivotally coacts with clevis 92 integral with the distal extremity of extensible arm 94. In FIG. 1 extensible arm 94 is shown in the fully extended position in solid lines and in the retracted position in dotted lines. The extensible arm 94 in the preferred embodiment is actuated by hydraulic means coacting with a piston located in cylinder 96. Hydraulic fluid under pressure, e.g. 3,000 psi, is conducted into and away from the cylinder 96 by means of conduits 98 and 100 in a known manner. The anchored extremity 102 of cylinder 96 is provided with a mounting clevis 104 pivotally secured by means of pin 106 to an anchor flange 108 which is welded to reaction plate 110 and spacer bar 76.

As will be seen from FIG. 1, extension and retraction of the extensible arm 94 in response to hydraulic fluid moving in cylinder 96 will cause the chock arm 74 to rotate through approximately 70 of rotation from a retracted position shown in dotted lines to a wheellocking position in solid lines. The ultimate extension of the arm 74 in the fully extended position or hold position is such as to avoid interference with the wheel flange 112. The extent of retraction is sufficient to clear the envelope occupied by any railroad rolling stock which is to be moved along the trackway, e.g. cars and locomotives.

In like manner, chock arm 72 is mounted for rotation on pin 62 for opposing action relative to the chock arm 74. It is actuated through a similar arc of travel by means of extensible arm 114 coacting through clevis 116 and pin 118 with the proximal extremity 120 of arm 72. The distal extremity of arm 72 is provided with a chock body 122 of similar but opposite configuration to chock body 80 and is adapted to coact in the nip between wheel and rail 10. Extensible arm 114 is extendable from and retractable into cylinder 124. The anchored extremity 126 of cylinder 124 is pivotally connected by means of a pin 128 to mounting plate or flange 130 which is in turn welded to reaction plate 132 and side-wall 56. The fully extended position of arm 114 is shown in solid lines in FIG. 1 and the retracted position is shown in dotted lines. Hydraulic fluid is moved into and out of cylinder 124 through hydraulic lines 134 and 136.

The distance between the confronting marginal edges of the chock bodies 80 and 122 in the locking position in a typical installation is 7 feet 4 inches, and a vertical plane passing through the transverse center line of the wheel truck also includes the center line of the wheel- Iocking assembly. The wheel axles are typically 5 feet lOinches apart and the wheels are standard 36 inch wheels, four to a truck. The center lines of the pins 62 and 64 are each 3 feet 5 k inches from the truck and wheel-locking device center line plane above mentioned. The distance between pins and 118, which are not equidistant from the vertical center plane above mentioned, is 7 feet 7 H32 inches. A slight shifting from symmetrical positioning is made necessary by the overlapping of the cylinders 96 and 124 in the housing 28 which also accounts for the different shape of chock arms 72 and 74. An ideal, albeit less practical, arrangement of the hydraulic cylinders 96 and 124 would be that they should operate from a position parallel to the track. The link arm length between the axes of pivot pin 64 and pin 90 is 18 inches as it is also between the axes of pivot pins 62 and 118. Different geometry will give rise to different locations of the pins and operating distances, all as may now be calculated by those skilled in the art. The foregoing dimensions are merely illustrative of the best mode embodiment shown in the drawings, the balance of which drawings are to the same scale as that on which the foregoing dimensions are based.

Hydraulic fluid under pressure is conducted into the housing for distribution to the hydraulic cylinders 96 and 124 through hydraulic lines passing through flange blocks, e.g. flange blocks 138 and 140. A platform 142 supported on channels 38 and 40 serves as a mounting site for the hydraulic pumping equipment which may include, for example, a 25-hp motor 144, a low pressure pump 146, and a high pressure pump 148. The type of pump, the motor, and its mounting, and the controls for feeding fluid under pressure into the actuating cylinders forms no part of the present invention and is of conventional known structure.

Wheel locks of the present invention are desirably provided on both sides of the track so that a duplicate installation to that shown in FIG. 1 is accordingly provided on the opposite side for co-operative action with the device as shown.

The hydraulic cylinders in a typical installation conveniently have a 5-inch bore and a 19-inch stroke. The rod is 3 inches in diameter, and a typical operating pressure is 3,000 psi.

The following table provides data for times required to close the wheel locks, the time required to return and the total time involved for each cycle. These will vary for the extent of misspotting.

The holding capacity of two units on a car having four axles and 36-inch diameter wheels and a friction rating of 0.15 is approximately 85.4K (K 1 X 10 pounds). The pushing capacity of the device herein described depending upon the extent of misspotting provides a total usable force on a given rear car of from 58.8K to 72.6K. These forces are sufficient to locate a railroad car which has been misspotted up to approximately 10 inches from the desired location. Each wheel-locking assembly in the preferred embodiment is rated for a pushing force of 65,000 pounds.

There hasthus been provided an improved train positioning and wheel-locking assembly for selectively locking and spotting coaction between a pair of railroad car wheels and the rail on which the wheels are supported. It is characterized by oppositely acting chock arms which are preferably hydraulically actuated into and out of wheel locking engagement. The forces applied in a typical apparatus are sufficient to tively locking and spotting coaction between a pair of 5 truck-supporting railroad car wheels in tandem relation to each other and the rail on which said wheels are supported comprising in combination:

a. a housing adapted to be mounted on a track bed;

b. a pair of spaced oppositely acting wheel-engaging chock arms pivotally mounted in said housing for movement in a horizontal plane; and

0. means for moving each of said chock arms respectively into and out of wheel locking engagement with a corresponding wheel of said pair, said means being sufficient to generate a railroad car moving force over a distance of up to inches in either direction.

2. A spotting and wheel locking assembly in accordance with claim 1 in which the means for moving the chock arms include an extensible arm.

3. A spotting and wheel locking apparatus in accordance with claim 2 in which the extensible arm means are hydraulically actuated.

4. A spotting and wheel locking apparatus in accordance with claim 2 in which separate extensible arm means coating between the housing and the chock arms, respectively, are provided.

5. A spotting and wheel locking apparatus in accordance with claim 4 in which the separate extensible arm means are hydraulically actuated.

6. A spotting and wheel locking assembly in accordance with claim 1 in which the wheel engaging chock arms are provided at their distal extremity with a nipconfigured face.

7. A spotting and wheel locking apparatus in accordance with claim 4 in which the chock arms are of insufficient length to encounter the flanges of the railroad car wheels.

8. A spotting and wheel locking assembly for coaction between a pair of truck-supported railroad car wheels in tandem relation to each other and the rail on which said wheels are supported comprising in combination:

a. a housing adapted to be mounted on a track bed;

b. a pair of spaced oppositely acting wheel-engaging chock arms pivotally mounted in said housing for movement in a horizontal plane; and

c. means for moving each of said chock arms into and out of wheel-locking engagement with a corresponding wheel of said pair, said means being sufficient to generate a railroad car moving force.

' ITJNHED SFA'E ECS PA'JIQNY ()FFHIE GERTE H (.1 ATE I. (10 HR EC'ii.

Patent No. 3,793,961; DatQd jlglzmgxy g lglg Inventor(s) Edward E. Cheek and Raymond H. Sabin It is certified that error appears in the above-identified paLcnL and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 6, Line 10 (Claim 7, Line 2 "4" 'should read Signed and sealed this 6th day of August 197 (SEAL) Attest: v

McCOY M. GIBSON, JR. C. MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,793,964 I Dated February 26 1974 Inventor(s) Edward Cheek 6 31.

It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

V Column 4, lines 45 0 48 should be omitted. 0014mm 6,, line 10 (Claim 7, line 2) "4" should read 6 This certificate supersedes Certificate of Correction issued August 6,1974.

Signed and. sealed this 10th day of September 1974.

(SEAL) Attestz McCOYTM, GIBSON, JR." I c. MARSHALL'DANN I Attesting- Officer Commissioner of Patents SCOMM-DC 60376-P FORM Po-1o5o u'o-s) I r v I v I i GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE llO-Gi! 

1. A spotting and wheel locking assembly for selectively locking and spotting coaction between a pair of truck-supporting railroad car wheels in tandem relation to each other and the rail on which said wheels are supported comprising in combination: a. a housing adapted to be mounted on a track bed; b. a pair of spaced oppositely acting wheel-engaging chock arms pivotally mounted in said housing for movement in a horizontal plane; and c. means for moving each of said chock arms respectively into and out of wheel locking engagement with a corresponding wheel of said pair, said means being sufficient to generate a railroad car moving force over a distance of up to 10 inches in either direction.
 2. A spotting and wheel locking assembly in accordance with claiM 1 in which the means for moving the chock arms include an extensible arm.
 3. A spotting and wheel locking apparatus in accordance with claim 2 in which the extensible arm means are hydraulically actuated.
 4. A spotting and wheel locking apparatus in accordance with claim 2 in which separate extensible arm means coating between the housing and the chock arms, respectively, are provided.
 5. A spotting and wheel locking apparatus in accordance with claim 4 in which the separate extensible arm means are hydraulically actuated.
 6. A spotting and wheel locking assembly in accordance with claim 1 in which the wheel engaging chock arms are provided at their distal extremity with a nip-configured face.
 7. A spotting and wheel locking apparatus in accordance with claim 4 in which the chock arms are of insufficient length to encounter the flanges of the railroad car wheels.
 8. A spotting and wheel locking assembly for coaction between a pair of truck-supported railroad car wheels in tandem relation to each other and the rail on which said wheels are supported comprising in combination: a. a housing adapted to be mounted on a track bed; b. a pair of spaced oppositely acting wheel-engaging chock arms pivotally mounted in said housing for movement in a horizontal plane; and c. means for moving each of said chock arms into and out of wheel-locking engagement with a corresponding wheel of said pair, said means being sufficient to generate a railroad car moving force. 